1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to clothing or garment hangers. More precisely, the present invention relates to a clothing hanger having garment clips to capture and retain an article of clothing.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
Most everyone is familiar with the conventional wire-frame clothing hanger. It is fabricated from a single cord of wire bent into a triangular shape with sloping arms and a crossbar, and topped off at the top by a hook. This simple hanger is adequate for suspending shirts or jackets, but often has shortcomings when used to hang a skirt, or trousers. Often times, the weight of the skirt or trousers when draped over the crossbar causes the crossbar to sag, thus leading to wrinkled clothing. Also, the clothing tends to slide off of the crossbar. Further, for shipping and merchandising the clothing, its handling and display require hangers which securely retain the clothing on the hanger.
There have been many mechanical modifications to the conventional hanger in an attempt to secure the garment to the hanger. This application is particularly important in the garment industry where garments are shipped to retailers on hangers, removed from the hangers and placed on better quality display hangers, and where shoppers must remove on the article of clothing from the hanger before purchasing. Thus, as the garment hangs in a store rack, it must endure numerous cycles of removal from and re-hanging on the hanger.
Moreover, as seen in numerous department stores and discount stores, garments are frequently moved from one rack to another, or shuffled about as they are suspended on the rack. Thus, the mechanism securing the garment to the hanger must be reliable. Yet the mechanism must also release the garment when necessary and be easy to re-attach. In view of the large quantity of clothing offered in a department store, the number of hangers used is necessarily great. As a result, the cost of each hanger must be low to meet economic constraints observed by all retail stores.
Various hangers have been devised at securing an article of clothing to the crossbar. For instance, a modified wire hanger has a tube that wraps around the crossbar and is coated with tacky glue. Ideally, the glue adheres to the article of clothing to prevent it from slipping off of the hanger. Also by reinforcing the crossbar with the tube, the sagging problem is corrected. Unfortunately, after a period of use, the tackiness of the glue diminishes. The tacky glue approach is thus not ideal for commercial use since the glue loses its adherence only after a few cycles.
A mechanical approach to retaining a garment on a hanger provides spring-loaded clips or clamps designed to pinch the garment to the crossbar. The clips can be separate from the hanger or, optionally, the clips can be secured to the crossbar so that during use in the store, they are not detached and misplaced. A drawback of this design is that the construction of the clips is relatively expensive. Specifically, metal clips made of spring steel are necessary to provide the resilient compliance or bias in the clips. Alternatively, the clips can be spring loaded using a coiled spring. In either case, material costs and assembly costs are high.
Another approach applies a plastic clip formed into a U-shape to pinch the garment against the crossbar. However, as is obvious, the clip can be easily separated from the hanger and lost.
In another conventional hanger, both ends of the crossbar have a downward protruding nib. Stretched across the nib is a rubber band. The rubber band holds the garment firmly against the crossbar. To remove the garment, one simply slides one end of the rubber band off a nib thereby releasing the garment. This approach, however, is a bit cumbersome and again the rubber band can get lost or separated from the hanger.
Yet another approach provides a crossbar that is forced against a stiff metal wire extending along the length of the crossbar and immediately adjacent thereto. One end of the crossbar can be snapped into or out of a loop formed in the wire. Thus, the crossbar can be pulled out of contact with the wire so that the garment can be hung thereon. The crossbar is then snapped back into the loop, locking the garment between the wire and the crossbar. Of course, this form of suspension is primarily directed to trousers and the like but is not particularly well adapted for skirts or dresses. The reason is that the skirt must be draped over the crossbar which, when locked into the wire, causes a crease in the skirt.
Accordingly, a need presently exists for a hanger that reliably secures a garment thereto and is inexpensive to fabricate.